During my journey in New Zealand, I spent a fair amount of time in Queenstown and Wanaka areas, and was privileged to go tramping in some of its well-known tracks. Rob Roy Glacier in Aspiring National Park was a short day hike, yet stunning that I believe it must be on every hiker's list.
This was also one of the trips that I did with my two dear friends @trangbaby and @hknauy, I would add some more photos and my take on this amazing journey, hopefully, it would not make you miss New Zealand too much LOL.
Rob Roy track is popular among tourists and locals alike since it is a short track and listed as an easy walk, it covers a variety of landscapes you could find in New Zealand's backcountry. This is also the first hike I did in Aspiring National park, I did come back for another amazing hike to Liverpool hut, and there are plenty more trails here if you have more time.
We departed from Queenstown and it took us one hour to reach Wanaka, however, it took another hour to reach Raspberry Flat car park — the starting point of the track.
It was an irritating 30 km of the unsealed road passing several small creeks along the way. I remember after that trip my friend had his car serviced as some water seemed to get into the exhaust, we felt a bit sorry as it was his brand new car LOL.
It was the beginning of October — the perfect time for exploring the backcountry in my opinion. The weather was really nice — sunny and warm.
The first part was an easy walk through the valley, the harmony of mountains and animals held us in awe.
This peaceful landscape made me feel like we were in some Alpine glacial valleys in Europe.
We roamed around and took photos of the cows, they were so beautiful and relaxing.
It sounds silly, but I wish I were them, just wandering and taking in this magnificent view all day long, that is a good life, isn't it?
You could see how the glacier has eroded the bottom of the river over time, creating some of the very interesting terrains.
After about 30 minutes of strolling the valley, we finally reached the swing bridge crossing the West Matukituki river — which is the start of the track.
Then, we started to climb through a small gorge before walking through the beech forest.
I always get a great sense of relaxation walking through the beech forest, we got to see a lot of ferns — the iconic flora of New Zealand.
Some of the track is quite steep, most of it is moderately flat, so it doesn't require a really good level of fitness. Unless you want to keep a record, just take your time and enjoy the scenery.
On the way to the glacier, we saw a lot of kids going with their parents, and they were always running ahead excitedly while we were huffing and buffing and making many stops along the way. We were so embarrassed facing the kids, everyone was making fun of each other's stamina, I told myself to push it a little harder every time I wanted to stop for a break.
We were impressed by the spectacular blueish-green water of the river, later I found out that it is typical for water melted from glaciers to have this color.
Leaving the forest we found ourselves surrounded by gigantic mountain slopes.
I felt so tiny, and we are indeed just a grand of sand in this massive world.
There are about five waterfalls along the cliff, it looks like a misty spray of melting ice, I wouldn't say it is a waterfall because it does not look like it from afar, but everything was sparkling in the sunshine.
Climbing up a rocky part, we were able to get an incredible close-up of the glacier. Needless to say, it was breathtaking.
Even though Rob Roy track is not the only way you can see the glacier in New Zealand, I think it is the easiest one. You do not need to be very fit and the journey is very enjoyable.
Have you been here? If you did it in another season, I would love to hear your take.
Thanks for reading, and thank God it's Friday tomorrow LOL.
Cheers,